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This page was last updated on March 3, 2004

Hall of Fame

2004 Winners Pascal Diethelm and Jean-Charles Rielle

The University of Geneva in Switzerland "stresses the merit of Pascal Diethelm and Jean-Charles Rielle for having made public their suspicions and for having emphasized the importance that the "Rylander affair" has for public health".

These two gentlemen exposed in print the conduct of Professor Ragnar Rylander of the U. of Geneva for his conduct in conducting research on tobacco and public health during a period when he was secretly receiving large amounts of money from tobacco companies. Because of their courage in reporting this behavior, they were sued for libel and dragged through the courts by tobacco company lawyers for a number of years before they were recently exhonorated by the Supreme Court of Switzerland and their own University. We applaud their courage and perseverence.

For more information on this issue, visit L'affaire Rylander courtesy of Gene Borio's Tobacco News

There is a complete chronology of the affair available at L'affaire Rylander PHILIP MORRIS Faculté de Médecine de Genève Prof. Ragnar Rylander including dozens of documents, newspaper articles and court and tobacco industry documents.

This scandal exposes the difficult problem of Universities that accept research funding from the tobacco industry. University professors who take this type of money often produce research results that support tobacco company legal positions, influence politicians or attack the work of other scientists who produce studies documenting the health dangers of tobacco products.

Some prestigious American universities, including Harvard University, Harvard University School of Health, Duke University and the University of California fall into the the group of institutions that take the highest amounts of money i.e. millions of dollars, from tobacco industry sources.

2003 Winner Gro Harlem Bruntland M.D.

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland from Norway has just finished her term as director-general of the World Health Organization. During her term, she was a strong leader in tobacco control and achieved the near-impossible in bringing together all of the nations of the world to create the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, despite strong opposition from the Bush administration and a few other nations with strong tobacco industries. This FTCT agreement forms a strong basis for nations to craft international tobacco control regulations with the goal of preventing millions of deaths caused by tobacco products.

Other individuals who have been recognized at ceremonies in Helsinki Finland this month include:

Simon Chapman, Ph.D. sociologist and a professor of public health at the University of Sydney. and

Mary Assunta Kolandai a vocal opponent of the tobacco industry’s rising influence in developing nations,

Also, honored by the American Cancer Society as recipients of the 2003 Luther L. Terry Award were:

Kenneth E. Warner, Ph.D., the University of Michigan’s Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor of Public Health, the director of the Tobacco Research Network and the associate director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, "an international authority on tobacco control’s economic implications."

Prakash Gupta, Sc.D., senior research scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and president of the Action Council Against Tobacco, India.

Michael Pertschuk, J.D., co-director of the Advocacy Institute, for a career-long commitment to tobacco control.

Sir Richard Doll, M.D., D.Sc., "a medical pioneer whose lifetime achievement in the field of epidemiology has transformed the world’s comprehension of cancer’s causes and prevention. In a distinguished career spanning more than six decades, he has published over 490 articles, and he is the driving force behind some of the most significant medical research of the 20th century."

Hall of Fame

2001 Winner The Honorable Henry A. Waxman

The Winner of the 2001 Hall of Fame Award is Congressman Henry Waxman of Los Angeles California. Although most politicians take money from the tobacco industry and vote against tobacco control legislation, there is one shining example of honesty and good government in the House of Representatives. Congressman Waxman has never taken money from a tobacco company, and he has tirelessly fought for improved public health and tobacco control legislation throughout his entire tenure in the House. Now, he has taken his good fight onto the Internet. Although George W. Bush is at his highest level of popularity, Conressman Waxman is not afraid to take him to task for his administration’s terrible record of undermining the World Health Organization’s International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. You can read Congressman Waxman’s letter to Bush at http://www.house.gov/reform/min/pdfs/pdf_inves/pdf_tobacco_control_let_bush.pdf.

and see information on more tobacco issues at the Committee on Government Reform; Minority Office Web Page http://www.house.gov/reform/min/inves_tobacco/index.htm#anch_seeks

1999 Winners: Anne Landman, West Region Program Coordinator American Lung Association of Colorado and Police Officer Jim Reid of San Francisco California.

Anne Landman is a remarkable woman who is proof perfect that the individual can make a difference, even when faced with a giant powerful foe like the tobacco industry. Ms. Landman is exposing tobacco industry duplicity on the local level in her home town by demonstrating how the tobacco industry encourages shoplifting of cigarettes. Sounds over-the-top doesn't it? You won't think so once you have visited her graphic evidence at Big Tobacco's Seldom Told Plan For Our Children She is also active on a national level, in providing a daily E-mail service as well as a remarkable new web page Anne Landmanbeautifully crafted by Scott Goold, that picks a new document from tobacco industry files each day and lays open the lies and concealment to public view.

I'll let S.F. Chronicle reporter Scott Osler tell you Jim's story. Jim should be out of jail to enjoy his Hall of Fame Award by New Year's Eve (if he doesn't starve).

Doing Time To Protest Toothless Law SCOTT OSTLER Wednesday, November 18, 1998 c1998 San Francisco Chronicle JIM REID probably won't die for your sins, you tobacco industry weasels and ad industry whores, but he sure as hell is going to diet for them. Reid is the answer to the trivia question: Which recent city supervisorial candidate is currently in jail? Last March,The Chronicle documented 32 violations of a state law prohibiting tobacco ads near schools and playgrounds. Reid wanted to call more attention to the violations, so on his 48th birthday he climbed 50 feet up to a Lucky Strike billboard that was selling addiction with sex and painted the words ``Selling Addiction With Sex.'' He expected to be arrested, and was. And convicted, and ordered to pay $4,000 to the billboard company, which he refused to pay, so he was sentenced to 45 days in county jail or home detention. ------ Most of the billboards have come down since then, but new tobacco-ad laws aren't being enforced in S.F., so . . . yesterday, after taking his physical test to become a San Francisco cop, Reid walked a few feet away and turned himself in to do his time behind bars. Talk about working both sides of the law. ``For me, it's a moral thing to do,'' Reid says. ``I'm convinced I can further this cause by going to jail and going on a hunger strike.'' Reid polled several friends, who advised him that jail would be a great way to focus attention on his crusade. I asked Reid if any of these friends have ever been to jail. He said no. Maybe they've watched different jail and prison movies than I have. Reid seems like a gentle soul, and when he asked my opinion, I told him he should definitely go to jail, if he is hoping to launch a country music career and is looking for song material. Otherwise, no way. Jail seems so, I don't know, confining. ------ A 48-year-old former contractor and supe candidate who wants to be a city cop (he already passed the written test) willingly going to jail -- that sounds like your lovable, garden-variety San Francisco nutball. And maybe Reid is, although his supe campaign's fix-Muni plan seemed awfully sane and well-thought-out. What makes Reid truly strange and different is that he has the integrity to act on his convictions. I don't know what kind of folks he will run into in jail, but I'll bet he won't be sharing a cell block with any tobacco industry honchos or cig-ad execs. ``The money that was used to arrest, prosecute and punish me could have been used to hire a full-time meter-maid type person to monitor tobacco ad violations,'' Reid points out in his nutball way. Reid has learned this: While the city and the state have passed tough new laws against tobacco ads, many laws are written with no enforcement funding attached. Reid committed his crime at the peak of rush hour, in full view of thousands, expecting to be arrested. And the DA's office tells me it was mere coincidence that seven cops happened to be in the area at the time. Still: Seven cops to bust a sign-defacer and none to bust illegal tobacco ads. It just looks funny. This week Reid found a Camel cigarette billboard looming over the Central Freeway at Folsom. He got the city building inspector to cite the building owner for an illegal billboard structure. It's a subliminal Camel ad that, according to an expert at the American Heart Association, is designed to appeal to kids. Joe Camel died of lung cancer, but the cig people just can't bear to give up on the youth of America. That Camel billboard might itself be illegal, it turns out. Based on checks so far, it was put up without the required state permit. So far, no arrests. And there it is, beaming its cleverly hypnotic spell to our city's teens, while Jim Reid kicks back in jail. Yo, teenagers: Don't say no adults care about you, OK? I'm not suggesting anyone deface that billboard, but it seems like such a good spot for a subliminal message like ``Free Jim Reid.'' I'd do it, but I'm scared of heights. c1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A3

1998 Hall of Fame Award Winner: Leslie Nuchow.

Leslie Nuchow is a young woman musician from Brooklyn, New York who recently had her dreams come true. She was offered a lucrative recording contract, from a major new recording company, that included production of a CD and a series of high profile concerts. What more could a young musician ask for?

She turned the offer down!

Why? Because the offer was from Virginia Slims Records. Her CD would have been given out to young girls when they bought cigarettes. Instead of helping the tobacco industry hook teenage girls, Nuchow decided to postpone fame and fortune, and to retain her integrity and self-esteem. She told Virginia Slims where they could put their offer and founded Virginia SLAM to counter the adverse influence of Virginia Slims concerts and ads on young women.

I generally make a point of not including any commercial messages in this page, but I will make an exception in this case. If you're interested in purchasing Leslie's demo CD (not available in stores, since it's a demo..but it is a full length recording) please mail a check for $13 made out to Leslie Nuchow to: 328 Flatbush Avenue suite 408, Brooklyn, NY 11238. This is definitely not a pity endorsement. Not only is Nuchow a person of integrity, she is also a great song writer and vocalist.

For more information on the Philip Morris "It's a Woman Thing" concert series, try this site. If you see a Woman Thing Concert in your area, you might consider joining these women with a picket sign telling the truth about Virginia Slims.


Frederic W. Grannis Jr. M.D

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